Here's a video I made showing how to make fresh mozzarella from pre-bought curd. For those considering making their own cheese there are several benefits.

First, it is not as difficult as it may seem. With a bit of practice you'll be making great cheese in no time at all. Cheese freezes extremely well when vacuumed sealed and melts nearly the same as their fresh counter part. I only notice a small difference in the "creaminess" between the fresh and thawed cheese. If made in bulk, the current cost is under $3/lb of good cheese. It is also a good skill to have if you consider yourself a serious pizza maker.

There are several brands of curd so check your local Restaurant depot or cash and carry stores for availability. Our local Shamrock wholesale food services doesn't carry curd but will special order it for me without extra charge.

Thanks guys. David I don't reccommend stretching cheese at higher temps. There are several disadvantages to doing this at higher temps.

I had a pro tell me he stretches at 180f. His fresh mozz was dry and tough and the cooled cheese on the pizza was the same. I have done over 70 lbs. and I have tested the different temps. IMHO, higher is not the way to go.

Now it maybe a different story if they are doing 20lbs. at a time in one big batch. That I don't know.

scott123

One small observation. Commercial food wrap frequently comes with a coating. I'm not sure if the coating is a plasticizer or if it's to provide non stick properties (or both). What I can say is that this coating tastes and smells horrendous. The wrap you're using may be fine, or it may not. Open the box, stick your head in and give it a really good sniff. If there is no smell, you're fine. If you get a strong rancid odor, then that's the taste you're transferring to the food.

About a year and half ago all my local supermarkets switch to this wrap for meat. Grrr... It's bad enough for meat, but when you use it for mildly flavored foods like mozzarella and white chocolate the taste from the coating is really noticeable.

Ron, it's not you. I have tried every which way to make fresh mozz from store bought milk. I have tried numerous brands of milk including organic milk. Bottom line is old milk doesn't make good fresh cheese. Yes you can make a cheese that looks and melts like mozz, but it just won't be that good. I have heard from several members that the cheese made from raw milk is great. That I can believe. Cheese made from bought curd is much less time consuming to make and yields a much better product.

Bobino, thank you for all your help and tips when I was learning about how to make cheese.

Do you only use this cheese now for all pizza or do you buy different cheese for NY style type pies?

I have only made cheese from Belgioso curd and Polly O curd and I prefer the Polly O over the Belgioso. I can say that the cheese made from Belgioso curd is better than the store bought one if you don't cook all the butter fat out of it and don't overstretch it. Polly O made from curd is a great cheese. Melts nice, has a good mouth feel and flavor, and isn't rubbery even after the slice has cooled.

I do use this Polly-O for both my hybrid pies and some of my trial NP pies, but it is better for NY and hybrid pies. I typically like to mix the Polly-O with Stella or another shredded block mozz and blend of aged cheeses for flavor (Parm/Pecorino/Asiago).

For NP style, I like a ultra white looking cheese that is softer to replicate the look of bufala. The polly-o is more of a cream color and when thawed it is not quite as soft as other fresh mozz cheese. For NP, I recently tried the Calabro brand fior di latte and that gives a closer look to bufala. There are a host of other bleached white fresh mozz to choose from the local grocery stores, but all that I have tried produced inferior results.

I have posted this before, but if anyone is a fan of the high quality fresh mozz Di Palo sells, it is made from Polly-O curd. If I order their cheese I have to order at least 10 lbs to make it worthwhile, and with shipping the cost is about $12/lb. If I make my own cheese using the same curd (and the cheese taste the same to me ) it is less than $3/lb. Gotta love that.

The only caveat about this curd is that it comes in 2 (21 lb) blocks so you'll have to find a friend to split it or do what I do, make 10lbs at a time over several weeks and freeze the extra.

Norma - Making cheese from curd is a very easy and relaxing process. Anyone can do it. If you can boil water....and add a bit of salt, you can make cheese.

Mike - Chris Angel's magic is mind blowing. I can't even say that I am almost the Chris Angel of things related to pizza making. That would be too big of a compliment, but thank you.

The cool thing about making your own cheese and doing other things pizza related, is that we can in fact demystify the hype and magic that is so pervasive.

LesPaul - thank you for the vote.

Scott - Thank you for the tip. I don't smell anything funny. The brand of plastic wrap is Bakers & Chefs from Costco or Sams. If anyone is using this brand and smells something odd, let me know.

Ron, it's not you. I have tried every which way to make fresh mozz from store bought milk. I have tried numerous brands of milk including organic milk. Bottom line is old milk doesn't make good fresh cheese. Yes you can make a cheese that looks and melts like mozz, but it just won't be that good. I have heard from several members that the cheese made from raw milk is great. That I can believe. Cheese made from bought curd is much less time consuming to make and yields a much better product.

I've made it from raw milk before... still sucked... and it was friggin EXPENSIVE. It was $6 for the gallon of raw milk from a local organic farm. I can't justify that price for experimenting to get it right, considering you can get about 12-16 ounces out of a gallon.

Great point re: plastic wrap. I had a 3000 sq. foot roll from Costco last year under the Kirkland name that had a strong chemical smell and felt greasy/oily so I had to chuck it. The packaging was before the present "Stretch-Tite" packaging.

chau, nice video i have never washed my curd . i am going to try that in the morning.i was told that curd needs to hit 135 degrees internally to cook.looks like your method accomplishes that.i got some grande fresh ovoline last week that made amazing pizza. i am going to see if your method will yield a nice soft milky cheese. that is similar to the ovoline.

I don’t know if you are interested or not, but an article on Slice recently, about Forcella’s and Giulio Adriani , says he stretches his mozzarella in milk. (The cheese is made in house daily. It's an attempt to tamp down on excessive moisture, says Adriani. He buys curd, heating it for stretching not in water, but in milk. It gives the mozzarella an incredibly creamy flavor, balanced by an ample amount of salt. This cheese should be sampled on its own—in a caprese salad, for instance) http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/07/forcella-pizza-williamsburg-brooklyn-nyc.html#comments